


Fifteen

by shcherbatskayas



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: 15th Birthday Shenangins, Birthday, Gen, If y'all don't think there's a Sweet 16 sequel you are WRONG, also henlo series!!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 15:32:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11360340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shcherbatskayas/pseuds/shcherbatskayas
Summary: June 30th was supposed to be just like any other day of the year.It wasn't.





	Fifteen

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PEKO PEKOYAMA, THE LIGHT OF MY FUCKING LIFE!!!!!! Now, some Buisness.
> 
> 1\. Next chapter of Deceit is almost done, I just needed to do something for my girl on her day.
> 
> 2\. The Kuzuryuu kids are still twins and canon can kiss my ass.
> 
> 3\. I based her birth year off of the SDR2 release date. If she's 15 in 2012, Peko would've been born in 1997! 
> 
> 4\. I hope you enjoy!

Peko knew, on a logical level, that she had a birthday. _Everyone_ had a birthday and even if she wasn’t a person, she was born on a specific day in a specific year and that day was her birthday. It was just that no one had bothered to tell her which day it was. She based her age off of the Kuzuryuu twins and that was that. If they were eight, she was eight. If they were fourteen, she was fourteen. She assumed it would be that way until they were all in their seventies. When she was younger and watched Fuyuhiko and Natsumi get bombarded with presents and cake and trips every August 16th, she had made the mistake of asking when hers was. After the practice session her sensei put her through for her curiosity, she never asked again. Peko never even wondered and assumed the topic of her birthday was buried forever. 

She assumed incorrectly. 

It was a bright, clear day. June 30th. For the rest of her life, she would remember that. June 30th. The sun wasn’t visible, but Peko could feel its warmth as she practiced in the gardens with a few dummies she had set up. Her sensei was busy dealing with the official guard force, so she was on her own until dinner or until Fuyuhiko decided he wanted to go somewhere. Fuyuhiko sat a good distance away from her while she practiced, fiddling with his phone and occasionally glancing towards the gates. 

“Is something worrying you, Young Master?” Peko asked, placing her sword down once she finished with the current dummy. 

“Nothin’ much. It’s just that today is the day those Hope’s Peak letters are supposed to arrive.” He said, looking towards the gates instead of her.

Hope’s Peak. Peko hated thinking about the place. Certainly Fuyuhiko would get admitted, but she wouldn’t and then the Kuzuryuu clan would have to waste money on enrolling her in the Reserve Course and the idea of being a financial drain on the clan made her feel sick to her stomach. If she wasn’t able to repay with her service, if she messed up anywhere, if she even _blinked_ in a way that Fuyuhiko’s father disliked while she was attending school on his dime...Peko hesitated to think of her fate. Her job wasn’t to think about things like that. She just had to do what she was told.

“I hope things turn out favorably.” She said, her voice stiff and awkward and not as empty as it ought to have been. Before Fuyuhiko could call her out on it, Peko turned back to her practice. Fuyuhiko sighed, the weight of unsaid words all but burying him as he looked at the gates once again. 

They went on like this for half an hour, Peko slicing away at unmovable enemies and Fuyuhiko checking for letters that seemed like they would never come until a strange car approached the driveway. Peko stopped practicing with her shinai and grabbed the katana, preparing to attack if necessary. Fuyuhiko jumped up, brushing grass off of his pants and gave Peko a rare smile. 

“I heard they come in a car like that.” He told her, pointing to the black van that stopped right outside the gates. “They come hand delivered by someone in a car like that.”

After a brief conversation with the guard at the gate, someone exited the car. Peko and Fuyuhiko both strained to get a look at this stranger. All they saw was a fedora and blond hair and a generic suit before he was led inside. 

“Maybe they wanna give Nat her letter first.” Fuyuhiko guessed. “And then they’ll come for us.”

“Us?” Peko repeated, unable to wrap her head around the concept of a letter for both of them. 

Fuyuhiko nodded. “Yeah, probably both of us. I don’t see why they wouldn’t. I mean, you’re the best swordswoman on this side of Japan. Hope’s Peak would be stupid to not accept you.” 

“I…” She tried to think of the appropriate response, but came up with a blank. Why would they try to admit someone who wasn’t even a person? Peko simply kept her eyes on the house, looking for a hint of what was going on by looking at the windows. All she saw was Natsumi running down the stairs, hair flying out behind her and phone in hand. She didn’t see Natsumi’s crestfallen face when she realized none of the letters were for her or hear her yelling after the stranger who had come with them, demanding that he talk to his boss about this mistake. 

Not too long after that, a servant came outside. “Young Master, you’re wanted inside.”

Fuyuhiko started to head inside and Peko went to follow him, but the servant put her hand up. “Just the Young Master, Pekoyama. Just the Young Master.”

He looked ready to correct her, but then Fuyuhiko glanced through the window and saw his father’s face and decided against it. This wasn’t the time to insist Peko come inside. She was safer outside with the sun on her face than she was inside with her boss in a bad mood. Peko watched as they head inside and allowed herself to be upset for five seconds before going back to practice. All she was ever allowed was ten a day. Ten seconds of feeling and she had already used up six of them before noon. She didn’t even have the time to be mad at herself for it. 

***

Peko didn’t get to hear the conversation inside. She wasn’t allowed the privilege of hearing Fuyuhiko get some of the best news he had gotten in months. She didn’t hear the ultimatum that the only way he could get it was if they helped him track down a particularly hard-to-find student, a girl who lived somewhere in Kobe. 

“Her name is Pekoyama.” The stranger said. “Peko Pekoyama. She’s a kendo star, but no one knows where she lives or who her parents are. We do know that it’s her birthday, though, so it would be nice if you could find her today. We have pictures of her, a full profile with everything except the street address, and any funds you’d need to track her down.”

Fuyuhiko actually laughed, a full and proper sound that anyone hardly ever got to hear. “You won’t have to look far.” He said, getting up and gesturing for the guest to follow him. “You passed right by her on your way in. I didn’t know it was her birthday, though. No one ever told me when it was.”

“You’re kidding.” He deadpanned, but as he was lead out to the garden, he saw her. Peko resembled the pictures he had perfectly, even down to the fact that her hair was neatly tied into two braids. 

“Not kidding.” Fuyuhiko watched Peko go through the motions he had seen a thousand times, but they never failed to amaze him. Everything about her was amazing to him, if Fuyuhiko was being perfectly honest to himself. She amazed and horrified him on levels he didn’t like to think about.

Peko turned around and saw Fuyuhiko smiling and gestured to the man that Peko didn’t know. “Peko! You have a visitor!”

She put her sword down and started walking towards them. Fuyuhiko head back inside, figuring it was right to give them some space. Part of him wanted to stay there, wanted to see the subtle way her face lit up when she got the letter, but he knew better than that. If he wanted her to see herself as a proper person, giving her space was important. It was even more important now that they were both going to Hope’s Peak. They would have to keep a fair distance from each other. It was best to start practicing now.

The stranger sat down on a bench in the garden and Peko sat down next to him. “You’re Pekoyama?”

“I am.” She confirmed.

“The name’s Kizakura.” He held a hand out and Peko cautiously shook it, almost as if she didn’t expect it to be real. “Pleased to meet you. I have a birthday present for you.”

“A birthday present?” Peko frowned, trying to make sense of that statement. A birthday present for her? No one ever got her birthday presents. She had no idea it was even her birthday. She had never been told, but now the answer appeared right in front of her, holding an envelope wrapped in red ribbons. 

“It is your birthday, isn’t it? I’m pretty sure that’s what my file said. Pekoyama Peko, born June 30th, 1997.” Kizakura said. “Your name isn’t a typo either, is it? The double Peko made me wonder.”

“It’s not a typo.” She said, taking the letter and untying the red ribbons. There were two of them and they were as silky and soft as the ones she tied in her hair. Peko set them in her lap before examining the paper. Even the paper felt extravagant, like parchment that was used in the old days for sending letters to kings. There was even a wax seal, which Peko carefully avoided harming as she opened the envelope and began reading the letter. 

It was a simple thing addressed to her, telling her she was accepted to Hope’s Peak and would be expected to be at the campus at nine o'clock sharp on September 1st for the start of classes. It also gave the link to a website where she would have to fill out financial aid information and stuff about her old school and a variety of other things. Even if she was just a tool, she couldn’t help but be happy beyond her allotted time. These people thought she was special. Someone didn’t just think she was a person, they thought she was an _important_ person. Peko knew that she ought to have corrected him, told him that there must be a mistake because she wasn’t even a human at all, let alone a valuable human, but she couldn’t. Not when this letter meant that she wouldn’t be a drain on clan resources. Not when it mean that she got to go to the bests school in Japan. Not when it meant that she got to be with the two people she cared about (because certainly something would be arranged for Natsumi). If getting everything she wanted meant that she had to play pretend at being a real girl, she would do it. 

“So, do you accept?” Kizakura asked once she read through everything. 

“I acc--I actually have to ask my guardians.” She had to stop herself from saying that she accepted right then and there. Peko didn’t have a right to accept anything. No one asks a sword if they accept the cut it must make, and so no one ought to ask her if she accepted, but they did. The whole thing was very strange, but not in a bad way.

“Of course. I’ll wait out here.” He took a drink from his flask as Peko ran in, letter still in hand. She didn’t even have to ask. Fuyuhiko and his parents saw the letter and after glancing at each other all silently agreed that it was for the best, even if their motivations for agreeing were all radically different.

“Just make sure you lie on the financial aid forms. I don’t want to pay for it.” Her master said, not even bothering to turn his head to look at Peko. 

“Yes, Master.”

“And get that man’s card. I want to have a few words with him.”

“Yes, Master.”

“And hand that letter over. I want to look at it.”

“Yes, Master.” Peko handed him the letter, including the ribbons. 

“Get lost then, girl, and throw out these ribbons while you’re on your way. I don’t need them.”

“Yes, Master.” Peko took the ribbons and head back outside, but she didn’t throw them away. In her first ever act of rebellion, she stuck them in the pocket of her skirt. She just couldn’t let something so beautiful and something that was _hers_ go to the garbage bin. Later, she would put them under the floorboards where no one would find them. They were the first things she had ever one hundred percent owned. Even the clothes on her back were Kuzuryuu bought. 

Peko got the card from Kizakura and then walked him to his car, silently unlocking the gate with a press of her finger to a scanner. 

“Happy birthday, Pekoyama, and I’ll see you in September, yeah?” He chuckled at nothing in particular, unlocking his car and sparing one last glance at the yakuza mansion. 

“I’ll see you in September.” She said. Once Kizakura got that confirmation, he got in his car and drove away. Peko watched the car go over the horizon and only went back inside once it disappeared from sight entirely. It may have been gone, but the excitement and hope that it brought still lingered.

***

The rest of the day was spent avoiding Natsumi (she didn’t want to see any of them, least of all Peko), filling out forms, and cleaning up blood from the drawing room. Cleaning wasn’t technically part of Peko’s job, but she knew better than to protest when she was told to clean something. At the end of the day, she head back to her room. It was just a repurposed closet inside of Fuyuhiko’s that could really only fit her bed and a few items of clothes. Fuyuhiko was already asleep when she came in. It was then that she did the math. If she was born in 1997, that meant she was fifteen. Fifteen. Fuyuhiko and Natsumi were both still fourteen. 

“I’m older than you.” She whispered incredulously. “I’m over a whole month older than you.”

Fuyuhiko looked almost as if he was going to wake up and Peko quickly went into her room and sat on her bed. He did wake up a few minutes after that and knocked on the closet door. 

“Peko. You don’t have to like, open the door if you’re almost asleep or asleep or whatever, but, uh, happy birthday. Kizakura seemed pretty damn sure it was your birthday, so...I hope you had a good birthday and shit. I never knew that today was your birthday, which is kinda shitty of me. I’ll get you a late gift or something.” Peko could almost see the way he glanced to the side and stuck his hands in his pockets, embarrassed by expressing the softness he hated and she loved. 

“You don’t have to get me anything, Young Master.” She whispered back before opening the door halfway. “And I never knew today was my birthday, either.”

“Don’t be stupid, of course I do! And I’ll make sure your next birthday is so awesome that it’ll make up for all of the birthdays you missed. It’ll be the best June 30th in human history.” He insisted, making the same determined face that he made when someone told him that he couldn’t reach something because it was on the top shelf and he was still barely five feet tall.

Peko opened her mouth to say something, but she didn’t know what to tell him. She just smiled at him, unable to believe her good luck. It was hard to tell in the dark, but his face seemed slightly more red than it had before. 

“You should probably get some sleep. We’ve gotta get up early tomorrow.” Fuyuhiko said. 

“I suppose so. Good night, Young Master.”

“Night, Peko.”

Peko didn’t sleep well that night. Her mind kept going back to the gift she had hidden and the promise of at least one happy day and other things she didn’t deserve and for the first time in fifteen years, she wondered for a second (A second longer than she should have) if she _did_ deserve them. When she tried to think of what made her less of a person than everyone else, she drew a blank. The moon hung high in the sky and the summer heat suffocated the other residents in the house, but Peko felt more than fine. She was fifteen years old now and a seed of something resembling rebellion started to bloom in the space between her heart and her lungs. It was a dangerous thing, a thing she knew it would be proper to destroy now, but with promises of September and next June hanging in the air, it only grew.


End file.
